$200,000 Guaranteed Main Event
Day 3 Completed
$200,000 Guaranteed Main Event
Day 3 Completed
As soon as the second day ended with 32 players still in contention, everyone knew the final day was going to be a long one. And so it was, but after 15 hours of play a winner has been crowned in North Cyprus. The 2014 Live Events International Main Event crushed it's $200,000 guarantee, and local player Ahmet Ucali took home the $87,000 first-place prize.
With only 27 spots paying out, the first hurdle of the final day was to make the money. That didn't took too long, as several short stacks busted out early. Ilya Zykov would eventually bubble the Main Event after his jacks couldn't improve against Krill Radizvanov's pocket kings.
Some big names were still in contention, but not all of them would make the final table. Jorn Walthaus was one of the familiar names still in the running. The Dutch player, who went deep in the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event, finished in 14th place after ace-king didn't improve against queens. Experienced Russian player Dmitriy Grishin got unlucky a couple of times and left in 11th place.
With Grishin's exit, the tournament broke to its final table. With 10 players remaining, there were still two fan favorites — European Poker Tour Vienna winner Oleksii Khoroshenin and Maksym Panyak. Those two had a little bit of a dispute, though, as both were also still in the Lebanese Poker Cup High Roller which started at the same time. A small conflict in scheduling resulted in the two multi-tabling the two big tournaments, and subsequently busting the High Roller first. Then in the Main Event, Khoroshenin busted in ninth place for $10,845.
Panyak was crushing most of the tournament and was heading straight for the top position. He raised every other hand for what seemed like the entire tournament, and every time someone was fed up with him, he actually had the best of it. His steamroll finished three handed, though, as the stacks got shallower. The crucial flip for it all didn't fall his way, as his opponent made a flush to defeat Panyak's eights. To finish him off, his last chips went to his neighbor with queen-jack versus ace-six.
After Panyak was eliminated, the two remaining players — Ucali and Mustafa Biz — made a deal to chop the money evenly, but leave $7,000 in the middle to play for. The stacks weren't even at all, but that didn't bother the two friendly players. Both were guaranteed $80,000 at this point, and you could tell the play wasn't as serious as it was before.
The first hand of heads-up play saw Ucali raise from the button to 300,000, and Biz call. On a flop, Biz checked to Ucali. Ucali followed his preflop aggression with a 300,000-chip continuation bet. Biz had bigger plans and raised to 700,000. Ucali called, and then called the 700,000 turn bet Biz made when the came on the board. The river was the , and Biz shoved all in. Ucali made the call holding the , and caught Biz red handed. Biz had nothing but the , which wasn't even close to beating Ucali's two pair.
The big bluff had gone wrong for Biz, but he seemed happy enough with his second-place finish and $80,000 payday. Ucali celebrated in a controlled manner, not showing too many emotions, but the smirk on his face told us enough.
Final Table Payouts
Position | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ahmet Ucali | Cyprus | $87,000 |
2 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | $80,000 |
3 | Maksym Panyak | Russia | $46,200 |
4 | Aliaksandr Adzerykha | Belarus | $34,700 |
5 | Sergii Minaiev | Russia | $28,600 |
6 | Sevket Yildiz | Turkey | $24,100 |
7 | Viacheslav Igin | Russia | $19,600 |
8 | Igor Ovcharenko | Russia | $15,100 |
9 | Oleksii Khoroshenin | Russia | $10,845 |
10 | Mustafa Meryumoglu | Turkey | $7,400 |
That concludes the 2014 Live Events International Cyprus Main Event, and PokerNews would like to thank everyone for following along. Until next time, it's been a pleasure!
And just like that the tournament was over.
After Maksym Panyak was eliminated, the two remaining players made a deal to evenly chop the money, and leave $7,000 in the middle to play for. The stacks weren't even at all, but that didn't bother the two very friendly players. Both were guaranteed $80,000 at this point, and you could tell the play wasn't as serious as it was before.
The first hand of heads up play saw Ahmet Ucali raise from the button to 300,000, and Mustafa Biz made the call.
On Biz checked to Ucali. Ucali followed his pre flop aggression up with a 300,000 continuation bet. Biz had bigger plans and raised to 700,000. Ucali called, and called the 700,000 turn bet Biz made on the as well.
The river came the and Biz shoved all in. Ucali made the call holding , and caught Biz red handed. Biz had nothing but , which wasn't even close to beating Ucali's two pair.
A big bluff went wrong for Biz, but he seemed happy enough with his second place and $80,000 pay day. Ahmet Ucali celebrated controlled, not showing too many emotions. But the smirk on his face told us enough.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ahmet Ucali |
9,930,000
4,230,000
|
4,230,000 |
Mustafa Biz | Busted |
Ahmet Ucali opened for 300,000 from the button, and Maksym Panyak three bet all in for a little more than that from the small blind. Mustafa Biz folded his big blind, Ucali made the call.
Ucali had and was ahead, but Panyak, still staring at his iPad playing Open Face Chinese, was live with .
The flop was a catastrophe for Panyak though, and after the on the turn, he had just a deuce to hope for. The was a blank and Panyak was sent packing in third place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ahmet Ucali |
5,700,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
Mustafa Biz |
4,200,000
-1,000,000
|
-1,000,000 |
Maksym Panyak | Busted |
Ucali shoved from the small blind, and Panyak made the call all in for his tournament life.
Ucali had and had to beat to knock his neighbor out. He would turn a flush draw, but that one wouldn't materialize: . Double up for Panyak!
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ahmet Ucali |
3,700,000
-500,000
|
-500,000 |
Maksym Panyak |
1,000,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
Ahmet Ucali opened the button to 450,000, and Maksym Panyak shoved from the small blind. Mustafa Biz instantly folded, but Ucali made the call for his tournament life.
Ahmet Ucali:
Maksym panyak:
The flop was good for Panyak with , but the made things scary. The completed Ucali's back door flush and Panyak was left very short.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mustafa Biz |
5,200,000
915,000
|
915,000 |
Ahmet Ucali |
4,200,000
1,750,000
|
1,750,000 |
Maksym Panyak |
500,000
-2,700,000
|
-2,700,000 |
Level: 29
Blinds: 50,000/100,000
Ante: 10,000
Biz (28.5 big blinds), Panyak (21.3 big blinds), and Ucali (16.3 big blinds) will return in 4 minutes.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mustafa Biz |
4,285,000
385,000
|
385,000 |
Maksym Panyak |
3,200,000
-200,000
|
-200,000 |
Ahmet Ucali |
2,450,000
-150,000
|
-150,000 |
After the break, blinds will be 75,000 and 150,000 with a 20,000 ante.